Changing demographics will make Texas purple, even blue, sooner or later, and the AFL-CIO is hoping to make it sooner. The labor federation is
looking at Texas as part of its 2014 effort, Richard Trumka says:
“It’s a majority minority state, and right now the minorities are denied the voice they should be entitled to,” he told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor roundtable Thursday morning. [...]
Laying out plans for 2014, he said AFL-CIO would focus on taking on states where the immigration battle was most at play, and in doing so, branch into some new territory.
“We’ll be involved at the state level, county level and district level, playing in some states where we haven’t in the past,” Trumka said.
As Markos has
written:
Let's be clear about this: If Latinos voted at the same rates as whites, Texas would already be Purple. And all other things remaining equal, it would've provided Mitt Romney with his second closest victory margin last year. Except that all things wouldn't have been equal—a five-point race would've meant lots of money. Democrats would've poured resources into the state, while Republicans would've been forced to divert their cash to playing defense. [...]
So the math is clear—Texas would be purple of Latinos voted. But they don't, so who cares, right? Well, Republicans should, because even with the same existing shitty turnout rate the growth in the Latino and Asian communities will erode the GOP's base by about 5 1/2 points every four years, or about 1.4 points per year.
What if union efforts could increase Latino turnout? Or persuade even a fractional percentage of white voters away from Republicans? The tipping point that's coming to Texas because of demographics could move a cycle closer.